About 2 months ago, I was introduced by a friend to the local Bell’s Field Sales Rep, Monica. She asked if I could help her build a ball drop for the release of Oberon – 3/25/13 at midnight. Getting the chance to mix my passion for making and drinking was an offer I couldn’t pass up.
I enlisted the help of Russ Wolfe to assist with electronics and prototyping. We went through a number of different designs to drop the ball from escapement-style (think clock pendulum) to motor controlled via iPhone app. In the end, we decided we were over-thinking it and kept it to a hand crank.
The lights on the other hand, we knew, would add so much. So we combined a custom set of Christmas lights (hand assembled within each of the beer bottles in the sphere and strip based LEDs. The LEDs were cool because they were tricolor and could therefore make any color. This was great because it kept up with the Bell’s color scheme.
The base is wood with laser cut sides. We used some ceiling diffuses to help spread the LED light across the panel.
Overall, I am really happy with the way it turned out. It is way over engineered (1,500 lb aircraft cable) but it got the job done. I even got to do a little machining for the custom hand crank arbor.
Stay tuned for the next project. I’m sure that will be fun too. Budmo!